


Guide

by DraconicWolf



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: After War AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 19:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7401043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconicWolf/pseuds/DraconicWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Cybertronian command & friends were trapped on a ship but they have now escaped. Who is this mysterious one helping them and what motives do they have?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guide

They ran down the hallway, peds thudding as the metal around them shook with the weight of their frames, each one grateful they were finally able to do so having been locked away in a small cell together. Wheeljack suddenly turned and threw two grenades from each servo, the ominous ticking followed by heat, unbearable for most other species, licking soothingly at their backs. They came to a crossroads, the end of the hallway cutting off at 90 degree angles to the left and right. Silent communication between Starscream and Optimus as they simultaneously turned to the right, not slowing their speed.

A slab of metal slammed down in front of them.

Thousands of tons of Cybertronian frames all collided into a mass pile against the metal wall that by all rights shouldn't have existed let alone appeared out of nowhere. The wall slid backwards with the awful scrape of metal against metal, just enough for the mechs to untangle themselves.

"Shockwave! Get your huge aft off my wing!" Starscream snapped from the bottom of the pile, still managing to shriek enough for the others to wince despite being smothered.

"Forget your slaggin' wing! What in the Pit just happened?!" Ratchet bit right back.

"Theory: unseen guide." Soundwave suggested. 

"Oh yes, all will be well, the great Primus has suddenly decided to intervene." Knockout drawled sarcastically. Optimus shot a glare at him as he stood, his helm whipping around a klik after to look back towards where they'd come. Moments later the others heard it as well.

"Divine intervention or not, it would be wise to make haste." Magnus summed up correctly. With those words they were off again.

At the next split in the hallway, this time an addition on the left to the one they were on, all of them slowed down. Whoever was helping them had learned as well it seems, for a block came up early enough for them to have maintained their speed, forcing them onward. It continued like this for quite a distance, Soundwave being the only one able to keep track of how many turns they had taken. Finally they were led to a sealed door at the end of a hallway. They stopped in front of it and some were shocked when it didn't move.

"Sort of makes sense." Knockout commented. Strange looks in his direction. "Well if it is someone on this ship manipulating things they probably would've freed themselves first."

"Any helpful suggestions on how we can open it?" Ratchet asked with no small amount of snark. Shockwave stepped forward and plunged his servo into the edge between the door and it's frame. He looked blankly over at Bulkhead.

"Oh, right." The green mech mirrored the motion and together they pulled the door out completely. As they went to enter Optimus placed a servo on each shoulder.

"Allow Ratchet to accompany you, it may be that the one assisting us is injured." They both nodded in understanding. Once Ratchet had been placed in between Shockwave and Bulkhead the three went single file into the room.

The first thing that reached Ratchet's audials was the keening, spark deep cries of all encompassing pain. He didn't think, just acted, pushing Shockwave aside and racing forward. There was a single cell in the room, at the very back corner, the two walls adjacent to the cell were covered in various electronics. By Shockwave's near silent hum of approval Ratchet guessed they were for various types of torture. Then he saw who, or rather what, was in the cell.

"A Psychbot!" The medic exclaimed softly, static laced in his voice from the amount of shock coursing through him. He turned around and pushed the two lumbering mech's back, calling out over comms for Soundwave and Optimus to replace them.

Psychbots were legendary on Cybertron, Transformers created as miners or communications specialists were given one special piece of equipment with heightened sensors, miners specifically to help detect things such as depth and mineral density. The second difference for the miners was that most were mass produced in a factory causing there to be assembly line glitches, Cybertronians with far more sensors than originally planned, and the worst of these were the Psychbots. Somehow, the amount of ways those factory lines could go wrong were immeasurable, an extremely small amount were created with all the high sensor equipment available to that plant. There were only two or three recorded cases but the true number was far higher than the majority of the Cybertronian population would ever know. Certain companies started to create them purposefully, mining foremechs paying more for the Psychbots as they were more efficient and easier to keep controlled. If your servo could be shattered by someone tapping the wall you were leaning against, you'd be in constant fear as well.

Ratchet had cared for many mechs and femmes that had come from the mines, illegally providing them with armour that would cover their sensors so they could have something resembling a life while in the Above States. He could see that, truly, this Psychbot was extraordinary even for its kind, most certainly larger at the very least.

Rigid spike-like sensors unfurled from its helm, in the tell tale shimmering "rainbow" colours, picking up the chemical composition in the air. Its flat peds and servos were pressed against the floor and walls behind it, impossibly thin chords emerging from them to spread out, recording the finite tremors and flexes in the metals. Sensors crept up from its peds slowly getting smaller until tapering off into lines from the knee joints up, servos were the same way starting at the elbow joints, outlining pure black armour. Its back plates were completely covered with these lines, wing like appendages peeking out from behind its curled up form, designed for proximity and communication. As a whole, a masterpiece of information gathering.

An extra loud keen ripped Ratchet from his thought processes. Now he recognized it, not as a keen, but the sonic echolocation frequency that was automatically installed into miner's vocalizers. Optimus and Soundwave had stopped at each of his shoulders, instantly recognizing the being as he had. He glanced back and saw both shaking minutely in an amount of distress he would never understand, both having extra sensors that had like wise been forced upon them. He sent a ping to Soundwave, jolting him into moving towards the terminal almost directly behind him, the only piece of electronics that looked to have a positive function. The door to the cell opened with a clang that caused the Psychbot to cry out again. Optimus was over in a flash, using a silent step few knew he possessed, carefully lifting the door and handing it to Ratchet, who in turn handed it back to Magnus.

Optimus paused at the door frame, trying to gauge his next move. The Psychbot looked up at him, optics becoming visible for the first time. They were pure white with pain. He gently crouched and hovered his servo a short distance above the other's. The Psychbot began to move and Optimus gently went down on one knee and sat back slightly causing the creature to pause, then creep forward again. Its sensors peeled from the surfaces, curling into balls within each appendage, helm fins twitching, "wings" fluttering. It hesitated, poised in a strange balancing act on the very tips of its peds, servo half outstretched half pulled towards itself. Slowly, cautiously, it placed a servo against Optimus' shoulder plate. As the chords stretched out white optics flashed a deep red and the Psychbot practically threw itself at the larger mech.

With a quivering Psychbot almost completely wrapped around him, Optimus carefully stood. He stayed frozen for almost a cycle, helping the Psychbot to alter his own systems so the recoil from his steps wouldn't reach it. While doing this the Psychbot entangled the surface of their consciousness allowing both to see through the other without crashing from the over stimulation. Optimus barely held in a vent of shock, his spark burning with anger, this poor creature had been here for so long. They shared a full frame shudder as the Psychbot quickly shutdown anymore memories, then, they started to walk forward.

The Psychbots' equally greatest appeal and curse was a special ability that only the most experienced of them were able to harness. If a Psychbot could become perfectly in sinc with the environment around it they could use their sensors to calculate weaknesses and strengths. Using this knowledge they could manipulate certain properties, allowing them limited ways to change said environment. The most skilled of these were able to perfect that manipulation so effectively they seemed to have telekinesis. Not wishing to give the truth behind their abilities they portrayed the idea that they came from a mystic source, that they were such examples of abomination Unicron himself rewarded them.

'How wrong they were.' Optimus thought as the being that was clinging to him made the weapons of their guards melt, allowing them to start running again yet not harming those only guilty of following orders. He felt the Psychbot's dark amusement and gratitude for those opinions.

For a short distance they ran, Optimus in a sort of haze state the entire time, ignorant to his friends around him as they tried not to outwardly show their disturbed feelings. They came to a door that was near identical in appearance to the last one. Somewhere in the Cybertronian's processors they wondered if the doors all looked the same and they just hadn't noticed. Shockwave and Bulkhead walked forward once more, pulling it open. Ratchet went to go with them but the Psychbot cried out. Optimus turned his helm to look into Magnus' optics and nodded.

Ultra Magnus went through cautiously, Optimus moving to quickly follow him second, and the others following in after as they shared significant looks between themselves, Ratchet angrily scorning them over the comms at the crude things they were saying.

"Well, well, well. Was wondering when the rest of them would show up." The Cybertronians very quickly tried to backtrack at the sound of that voice coming from hidden speakers. All they got was a strange sense of deja vu as the wall melted across and then solidified, blocking their way out.

"Much appreciated, my loyal Psychobot." The bot in question let out a piercing sonic cry at the dreaded 'o' so many felt they needed to add.

As the enraged cries escalated from his fellow Cybertronians, Optimus found himself unable to feel betrayed. Being linked to the Psychbot he caught glimpses of the spark deep loathing for the actions it was being forced to commit. He sent a small wave of questioning, not confusion, to the Psychbot. A moment of shock, then cruel amusement once again, before he was indirectly showed a specific line of code.

'He activated the foremech command.' Optimus thought, careful to hide his own disgust from the others around him. He sent sympathy, and a desire to reverse the code's applications. The Psychbot sent back gratitude and the simple answer. Optimus felt his spark stutter for a nanoklik before his resolve hardened. He sent a carefully encrypted comm to his fellow mechs, each doing their best to hide a flinch. Starscream made a comment that had Ratchet roaring, though Optimus was not privy to it.

"-I request yet again, return what is mine." Their captor's disembodied voice shattered the internal communications as they suddenly remembered his presence within the room. The Psychbot whined softly, shifting to burry its helm against Optimus' chest plates as the Prime held it tighter against him.

"You will control him no longer." Magnus commanded ominously, raising his ion canon, causing the others to raise their own weapons.

"Oh, so unwise." The voice faded away as sections of the wall opened, allowing warriors to stream inside. These were obviously more skilled and intelligent than the guards they had been previously running from.

"Oh how original." Knockout muttered, spinning his electric prod to create a dazzling shield of blue light. When the light had blurred to cover the entire 360 degrees, it began to shift colour, becoming a slight green with an odd purple line near the centre. The warriors' attention became fixed on the spinning rod, their optics quickly brightening then slowly fading as their processors went into a partially aware stasis. Eventually their frames slackened, arms dropping to their sides though still grasping weapons. Two soldiers were brought back to life. Each aiming at the other.

"Too busy to watch? Or too much morality left in your spark?" Optimus asked with a dramatically low tone, looking upwards and around the room smoothly to show exactly whose attention they wanted.

"You would not dare." Emphasis was put onto each individual word, a deliberate attempt to hide the fine tremor of doubt.

BANG!

The loud clearly identifiable sound of a weapon and the following crash of a frame startled the others out of their trance. As each individual realized exactly what had occurred, the volume of horrified noises increased. The guard with the cooling weapon started to shake until a comrade moved to take the weapon out his servo.

"Your son is dead, killed by his own mate." Optimus' stated in a hushed tone. "You see our power, you see what we are willing to do." There was a long silence that followed, stretching out long enough for the guards to begin moving. They did not approach the Cybertronians, merely shuffled until they were in a sort of huddle formation around their most vulnerable member, the traumatized mech in a crouch rocking the off lined frame, a few shooting glances of deep loathing.

The door the warriors had entered through slowly opened again. Out stepped their captor, well, perhaps slithered would be more appropriate wording. He was a large and foreboding mech with the shape of a metallic viper, large plates fanning from the base of his helm, armour smooth and pitch black with red highlights, a citizen of the Beast Planet. This was the first time they had seen for themselves who had held them prisoner for nearly a vorn, it made them vent hard with shock.

"Scorpius." One of the Cybertronians whispered, no one was sure who. One of the most powerful bounty hunters moved slowly into the room, staring at the group of mechs fully battle ready, optics an unnerving dull blue green, the perfect contrast to the colours of his frame. With a graceful turn he approached the group mourning, they quickly shuffled to the side, leaving him a clear path to the grieving mate and cold body of his creation. He bent low and curled slightly around the two, lightly nudging the top of both helms, whispering words that caused the one still on-line to clutch even tighter and send the hunter an expression of fear. Just as slowly, he rose back up and turned.

"Dismissa es. Liberos non servit." You are released. Go free, slave of none. He spoke softly but with no less finality.

With a shudder the Psychbot carefully nodded its helm, extracting itself from Optimus. It blocked out everything as they disconnected, leaving behind only a vague sense of happiness. As the Psychbot crouched on the ground the walls shuddered. Sheets of metal suddenly tore themselves apart, becoming moldable fragments suspended in the air. Slowly the debris began to spin, becoming a liquid and melding together in a continuous ring . They all watched, awed as the copper tones became dull grey, moving in graceful sensual movements all around them. With a small jerk it flew to the Psychbot, wrapping around it as the creature grew in size, standing in front of Optimus, until it was a tornado of metal slightly taller than him. From the helm down it shifted to plates of armour, supports, joints, digits, weapons systems, until it became the mech Optimus thought he would never lay optics on again.

Megatron. His spark whispered to him, still unbelieving even as the last piece fell into place and a familiar clawed servo reached up to cup his faceplates.

"I knew you would find me, Aequalis." Aequalis, Equal, only one mech knew how much he loved his second name. Coolant began to flow from his optics, the couple embraced for the first time in over 3 vorns. After merely a klik they separated, Megatron turning to nod approval towards his loyal mechs, continuing on to look at Scorpius, arm still wrapped around his lover.

The bounty hunter hung his helm, remorse clearly seen in his optics even when half hidden. Megatron's faceplates shifted to form a gentle smile all had once thought impossible for him to show. He looked towards a specific spot in the ceiling and nodded, smile turning to a grin of success. All but he flinched in shock as the warriors faded into sparks, merely a hologram. Scorpius entire frame was rigid, turning with infinite care to look Megatron in the optics.

"They are waiting for you." Was all the explanation Megatron would give. With a frown of confusion Scorpius mulled over his words, tail shaking in distress before it began to curl and flick in understanding. He shot out of the room at a speed that made many processors threaten to move out of alignment.

"His family and crew have been worried for some time, his anger and cruelty growing with nothing helping him to see what he was turning into. His son came to me for help when he realized who you were, they will not harm any of us." With a pop and a wheeze and a clang Ultra Magnus fell over. Wheeljack was beside him in a second checking his vitals. When he saw all was fine the Wrecker looked up to see numerous smirking faces. He opened his intake to snap at them then thought better of it and simply chuckled along with Ratchet and Knockout as they checked the commander over as well.

"They have high grade." Megatron spoke casually. All helms shot up in interest, including Ultra Magnus' to the medics chagrin.

"Iaconian: refuse to drink." Soundwave answered without any room for leeway causing the other former Decepticons to laugh. The communications officer then held his servo out towards Shockwave, the one optic mech hesitantly took it. Megatron discreetly moved his servo and an arrow appeared on the side of the wall towards the door. With a few cheers and weary looks they followed the enthusiastic Soundwave dragging his soon to be lover, Optimus and Megatron bringing up the rear.

"And after this?" The former Prime asked softly, glancing up at his love. Megatron's pace slowed slightly as he thought about that question, before a smirk formed.

"Lock Starscream and Ratchet in a closet with Knockout." Optimus laughed softly tightening his grip on the other mech's waist.

"And then?" He asked, allowing a serious undertone to creep in. This time Megatron stopped all together. He was silent for almost a full cycle, tracing Optimus' faceplates with his optics.

"We are no longer prisoners." Prisoners of this ship. Prisoners of a fixed title or position of power. Prisoners of anything but freedom. That gentle smile returned again. "We can go anywhere." Optimus returned the smile and the two continued on. Following the faint sounds of laughter down the hallway, for now leaving behind the pain of locks, and doors that refused to open.


End file.
